Twenty First Century
by mslizabeth
Summary: Edward welcomes his new room mate, except Bill isn't exactly what he was picturing in his mind...


**A/N: This was my September entry for Iron Pen Challenge! The secret ingredient was a quote about apples. (I had writer's block for like half an hour, so it's sort of meh, but it ended up sort of okay.) I hope you enjoy it. (It's lightly beta'd the mistakes are mine...)**

**Disclaimer: Recognizable characters and places aren't mine.**

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Edward rubbed his face, as he sunk down onto his couch as if his legs couldn't be bothered to hold him up any longer. In service days were going to be the death of him he was nearly positive of this fact. The last week had felt like an endless series of repetitive ramblings that did nothing to spark his desire to begin work.

When his alarm had gone off that morning he'd found himself hitting the snooze button for the first time since he'd gotten his position at Lincoln. Although, it wasn't the children pushing him to the edge of his sanity; in fact the thought of them filling the halls again was the only thing keeping him going. They were reason he forced himself to endure a week of mindless videos, classroom and curriculum checks and going over the handbook.

Just thinking about the handbook made him want to roll the thing up and shove it up Mike's ass; it was probably too strong of a reaction but the newest vice principal had made a few changes and spent the last two days drilling it into their heads as if they were too slow to pick up on things the first time around.

He wouldn't even allow himself to think of the ways that he didn't agree with his policies. In his mind, at no point in time should middle schooler's be openly encouraged to take condoms and encouraged to practice safe sex. They should be steered in a different direction, but clearly gone were the days of yore when he'd been young and spent his seventh and eighth grade years just trying to steal a kiss or a grope in the back of a movie theater or in the closet at a co-ed party.

Hearing a crash on the other side of the door followed by cursing and keys being banged around Edward assumed his new roommate Bill had arrived. He knew that the kind and welcoming thing to do would be to open the door so he didn't have to wrestle with the lock, but he was too drained to do the nice thing.

Instead, he found himself wandering into the kitchen and grabbing a Heineken out of the fridge, as a sign of welcome and solidarity he grabbed a second and dangled it from his fingers in the direction from the door.

Suddenly, the commotion that had been located on the outside of his door fell into his door with a crash and the sound of shattered glass.

"Whoa, dude, let me help you."

He crossed the room in a dash, finally remembering the manners his Mom had taught him as he knelt down to help Bill to his feet gathering some of the items he'd been carrying into his arms. "Sorry about that, man I should have gotten the door for you." He found himself apologizing to a face still covered in brown hair.

"No problem, I should have known I couldn't get all this in one trip."

"Are you Bill's girlfriend?" he knew he was zero for two on manners today, but there was a small brunette beauty poised in his doorway and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to handle that.

A pair of obviously baffled brown eyes blinked up at him as she shook her head, "I...uhm...I mean..."

"Articulate little thing aren't you?"

"Rude big thing, aren't you?

"Touche. I'm sorry, I'm Edward and you are?"

"Bella, your new roommate. We corresponded this summer."

He laughed at the way she enunciated her words as if maybe english wasn't his first language or he were just a little slow.

"I'm sorry, my new roommate is name Bill and is a dude."

"My boobs say otherwise on that whole _dude_ thing. Can you direct me to my room? This stuff is heavy."

Edward nodded dumbly, leading her through his apartment to the room across the hall from his. "I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how this happened."

"Look, I'm sorry this is so hard for you, but I really don't have anywhere else to go other than my car. Surely the idea of forcing me to spend the night in my car cannot be more appealing than letting me sleep in this room."

"Of course not. I'm sorry. Look, I'm acting like an ass. I'd give you an excuse, but honestly as a teacher there is nothing more than I hate than a contrived excuse so I'm not going to give you one. I'm going to apologize and tell you that I promise that I'm not always like this."

Her nose wrinkled making her look more like a bunny as she finally nodded slowly. "I think I'm going to believe you on that. Look, yours was the most appealing ad I saw all summer for a roommate. I figured it's the twenty first century there's nothing wrong with a guy and a girl being roommates, right?"

"You're right. There's not. I just was expecting a Bill. I guess I should have clarified on some things especially since I spilled coke on those applications. Let me make it up to you that I was an ass tonight."

"Breakfast tomorrow, you're on. For now, I had a ten hour drive and all I want is a shower and that bed."

Edward laughed as he pointed to the door on the left wall of the room, "Bathroom through there there's even some extra towels in the closet so you don't have to dig yours out. Breakfast will be great."

x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*

_A soft hand slid up over his chest, followed by a small wet mouth that placed kisses down his body._

_He groaned his hands sliding over the exposed skin of the small body over him. "I need you." He almost didn't recognize his own voice breathy and desperate with need as he reached to attempt to pull her up to his level. To his dismay he resisted her advances as her body slid between his legs._

_"Patience. Good things come to those that wait..." She whispered as she glanced up at him her warm brown eyes hooded with desire and dancing with glee as her mouth moved lower._

_As desperately as he wanted to be inside of her, he felt himself holding his breath as he waited to feel her warm mouth sink down over him._

_His eyes were locked with his as he finally let her name slip past her lips "Bella..."_

_The word had barely left his mouth when a knocking started at his door. He couldn't believe that someone had dared to let themselves into his apartment and interrupt this moment he'd been dreaming of for weeks._  
**  
**"Edward?"

Despite the fact that it was the voice he longed to hear, the tone was like a bucket of cold water being thrown on him.

"Yeah?" He called back, hoping she assumed the strain in his voice was from sleep and not his south of the border problems.

"I'm not sure if you heard your alarm, but it went off a little while ago. I know it's your first day of school so I made you a special breakfast."

"You didn't have to do that. Give me five minutes and I'll be out there." He promised as he climbed out of bed as he started to contemplate a series of unsexy events. Jasper streaking through campus the night of graduation, Emmett and his jockstrap doing the "Bye, Bye, Bye" dance. Sure enough those images were enough to calm his body.

"Yeah, it's the twenty first century. Men and women can live together. No big deal. Says the girl who prances around in a t-shirt and panties." He grumbled as he managed to dress himself and step out of his room.

He could help the belly laugh that escaped his lips when he saw all the apples lining the counter in their kitchen.


End file.
